Role of Shipping and Fulfillment Integration for success of eCommerce business
Thursday, 16 October 2014 | Written by qtriangle |
According to LocalBanya, 98% order fulfillment along with well-trained customer service makes people to come back to its site for fulfilling their grocery and household needs. This fact itself says about the significance of having an ecommerce order and fulfillment process that is no less than the backbone of any online store when it comes to ecommerce website development India.
Online order and shipping influences almost everything, including loyalty and conversions. Therefore, if they are not efficient, the ecommerce business is likely to lose both sales and customers. Well, it is common sense to comprehend that customers want their packages shipped swiftly at least possible cost.
However, meeting this basic customer expectation becomes tough in case of manually transcribing the order information between the ERP and e-commerce systems, which involves high risk of errors and much consumption of time. For eliminating these issues, an integrated system for shipping and order fulfillment is an ideal solution, as it improves efficiency and productivity by automatically reflecting the information in one system in the other.
For any ecommerce development company, it is critically vital to be quick and accurate when it comes to responding to a customer visiting or buying from the online store. Moreover, the complete shopping experience has to be flawless so that a customer can effortlessly and reliably track an order via the fulfillment process.
Currently, this is best done through integration, as it ensures customer-oriented functionality and seamless efficiency, allowing management of an increasing number of orders in least time and with fewer issues. Such a smart, real-time integration has the following roles to play:
Timely, Precise Informer
When the online shopping portal works with an integrated system for fulfilling orders and shipping choices, it informs the retailer about the full process, right from starting to the end. As a result, the retailer is in the position to easily provide up-to-date information and answer different questions from the customers, in case they call for getting additional information. Moreover, by offering real-time updates through automated order or shipping confirmations, even the customer is kept informed, which is a good indicator of quality service.
Comprehensive Tracking Facilitator
Once the shopping cart gets integrated with order fulfillment, the retailer becomes capable of keeping a full track of orders in bulk, instead of micro managing each order. Moreover, because the order and shipping management is automated, it becomes easy to measure exactly where orders stand at any point in time.
Issue Determinator
It is truly disagreeable for an online retailer to have a high rate of shopping cart abandonment. However, with a perfect integration of order fulfillment, the retailer can easily determine the level of such abandonment as well as find out how to convert them into loyal conversions by giving them their demanded shipping and order options. In most cases, the lack of desired shipping options result in abandonment.
Cost Controller
Shipping and fulfillment integration results in reduced operational and labor costs, quicker shipping time, and finally higher customer satisfaction leading to further sales. Further, there is no need to invest in other exclusively dedicated fulfillment software or equipment.